TikTok baffled by bizarre reason woman keeps her pet turtle in the fridge

After one woman shared how she hibernates her pet tortoise in the freezer for 12 weeks during the winter, concerned viewers had many questions.

TikToker Tina&Co took to the platform to share how she places her pet tortoise in the fridge for 12 weeks so it may hibernate. Tina, who lives in Belfast, Ireland, said the method was recommended to her by an exotic vet specialist.

Viewers, of course, had many questions about the tortoise’s wellbeing while in temperatures between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius.

She assured that despite being dormant in tupperware for 12 weeks, her pet is still able to breathe. “Really all that happens is he gets really, really, cold. Because he’s cold-blooded, he doesn’t move that much and all of his metabolism slows way down. And he’s not exactly sleeping, he’s just kind of sitting there,” she said.

“He doesn’t really breathe very much. But if I open the fridge once a week, that would be plenty of oxygen for him,” Tina noted. However, she said she opens the fridge at least once a day because she needs to check if he’s urinated. 

If he urinates, she said she would have to wake him up because he would have lost a lot of internal heat from doing so.

Tina said “he doesn’t need to eat or drink anything” during the 12 weeks. However, she makes sure her pet is well-hydrated before being placed in the fridge.

Since she’s “completely obsessed” with her pet tortoise, which she’s owned for seven years, Tina added that she looks forward to taking him out of the fridge every week to weigh him. 

She said she didn’t hibernate her tortoise during the first five years of his life because he was too small and she wasn’t “confident” in the process. After noticing how much slower and sleepier her pet became in the winter, she decided to begin placing him in the fridge to hibernate for his well-being. 

When her tortoise was done hibernating for the first time, she said she noticed how much “happier” he was, adding that he was even more playful than before after his internal clock was able to reset during the 12 weeks.

Tina added that she doesn’t feed her tortoise 2 weeks before being placed in the fridge because he shouldn’t have food in his stomach during hibernation, as it could ferment and lead to toxicity and death.

While her hibernation methods are suitable for her pet tortoise, some viewers of her story were divided over the unique process.

“I would honestly be so afraid to do this,” wrote one viewer.

“My overthinking would go mad thinking he was dying,” said another.

“This is why I can’t own a tortoise! My anxiety could never,” quipped a third.

While it isn’t illegal to own a pet tortoise in Belfast, some pet owners in the United States have had difficulties with legally owning their animals.

In October, Mark Longo’s pet squirrel, Peanut, was seized and euthanized by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation. In March, Tony Cavallaro was also forced to give his pet alligator to the DEC. He owned Albert the alligator for 34 years before the animal was taken to live at an adventure park in Texas.